Bafta nominee Thomas Vinterberg: Praise for film honours late daughter’s memory
His daughter died just days into filming Another Round, which has received four Bafta nominations.
Bafta-nominated director Thomas Vinterberg has said the praise given to his film Another Round feels like it is honouring his daughter’s memory.
The Danish filmmaker, who is also responsible for projects including The Hunt and Far From The Madding Crowd, lost his teenage daughter Ida in a car accident at the start of the shoot and made much of the movie at her school.
The film, which has been nominated for four Baftas, stars Casino Royale actor Mads Mikkelsen as a teacher who tests a theory that he will improve his life by maintaining a constant level of alcohol in his blood.
It has been rewarded with a string of nods from Bafta, including best director and best original screenplay for Vinterberg, best actor for Mikkelsen and a best foreign language film nomination.
He told the PA news agency: “It’s a brilliant moment. As a humble Dane it is wonderful to be part of this.”
Asked why he thinks the film resonated, he said: “Seeing four people insisting on a more inspired, celebratory life and insisting on togetherness, and an outdoor version of togetherness even, is apparently is something that people need and I definitely think it plays with the time it’s landed in.
“It’s also a film that comes very straight from the heart, from a very raw and naked place in our lives and there is a lot of love on screen and I think people react to that.
“I’m very surprised by it because it’s probably the most Danish film I’ve done, it’s almost a tourist film for Denmark, with some sarcasm, so it appears to me that the more Danish it becomes, the more universal it becomes.
“I guess it’s when things steer away from the general and become very specific, then they are brought to life somehow, but it was a surprise and it has been overwhelming.”
The film has already been nominated for a Golden Globe and is on the Oscar shortlist for best international feature film, and Vinterberg said that has been gratifying given the circumstances it was made in.
He said: “This film was made in some incredibly tragic circumstances in my private life and for that reason it is the film I’ve done that has meant the most of all films that I’ve ever done.
“So all this praise for this movie is in my head honouring my daughter’s memory, and therefore it means something extra.
“She would have been very proud.”
The EE British Academy Film Awards will take place on April 11.
